Before his solo career took off Billy Idol was the lead singer of the London Punk Band Generation X. In fact this song was originally recorded by the band but it recieved a lukewarm response . Idol recorded it again three years later as a solo artist and it became a radio and dance club hit!

The inspiration for the song came for a night during Generation X’s first international tour in Japan in mid 1979! Idol and bassist Tony James were visiting a dance club in “Tokyo” where they were surprised by the sight of the young Japanese crowd all on the dance floor dancing with their own reflections in walled mirrors, rather than with one another.